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The Kremlin's 'useful idiot', a political speed demon and Finland's Eurovision controversy

Week 19

Author

David Mac Dougall
May 10, 2024

Surprise! 

Welcome to Finland Insider. Yes, the first edition officially launches next Friday, but for early subscribers like you (kiitos, tack!) here’s a sneak peek of what’s in store.

Next week: Expect a look at where Finland is “falling behind” its Nordic NATO neighbours on defence capabilities; an exclusive interview with the President of the Sámi Parliament who shares her thoughts on Petteri Orpo’s government; and everything you need to know about the European Parliament election in Finland.

This week: The Kremlin’s ‘useful idiot’, a political speed demon, and Finland’s Eurovision controversy. But first this:

Inside the headlines:

School shooting: Police say the 12-year-old suspect in April’s deadly school shooting had been planning the attack for two to three weeks in advance. One boy was killed and two girls wounded in the shooting in Vantaa. Police say they haven’t been able to substantiate the suspect’s claim that bullying led him to carry out the attack, and they praised his teacher for acting decisively to stop any more loss of life.

Telecomms: The once-iconic mobile phone brand Nokia is planning to cut hundreds more jobs in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat reports. Meanwhile, its old Swedish rival Eriksson is set to announce 50 job cuts in Finland as soon as next week.

Sick: The MP at the centre of a late-night shooting incident has extended his sick leave by an extra week. Timo Vornanen, a Finns Party MP at the time of the shooting outside a Helsinki bar at the end of April but who has since been expelled from the party, wrote on Facebook that he is both a suspect and a plaintiff in the investigation. “My status as a suspect is based on the criminal offence of threatening to kill,” he said. Vornanen was a police officer for many years before going into politics.

Strikes: Parliament has passed a new bill which curbs strike rights in Finland. The new law means political strikes - where unions are protesting government actions - are limited now to just 24 hours; and industrial action - where workers are protesting their employers’ actions - are limited to two weeks. There are tough new fines for any workers who break the new laws.

Union reaction: A typical reaction from the welfare union JHL: “Workers can no longer have a full say in policy. At the same time, we are moving away from the traditional Nordic labour market model;” meanwhile trade union umbrella organisation SAK says “The restrictions will help pave the way for the next round of labour market reforms, which are set out in the government programme in large numbers. Limiting political strikes to 24 hours is also contrary to international agreements binding Finland.

Insider analysis: The new legislation was rushed in following a citizen’s initiative championed by right-wing politicians, and after the government was embarrassed by a series of wide-scale union strikes in the spring. Unions were protesting swingeing cuts to social welfare programmes and workers’ rights. Leaving aside the argument of whether this brings Finland into line with some other EU countries, it does mean that workers now don’t have some of the rights in Finland that they did at the start of 2024, and nobody enjoys having their rights eroded. Will this legislation come back to haunt the government? Time will tell.

Airport: A Finnair flight to Kokkola was evacuated on the runway at Helsinki airport on Wednesday. A group of politicians was among the passengers, including Minister of Education Anna-Maja Henriksson (SFP). Fire crews say there was smoke in the cockpit, Finnair says it was a faulty computer.

Former minister Mika Lintilä (Centre) was also on the plane, and joked that the smell of smoke was “stronger than Easter bonfires.”

Remote work: New figures show 35% of Finns worked remotely during 2023. That’s a drop from 41% during COVID restriction times. According to Statistics Finland, women work remotely more often than men. When data on this subject was first gathered back in 1997, just 4% of Finns worked remotely!

Thin ice: The only Finnish ice hockey player in Russia’s KHL has left his club. Former Detroit Redwings draft Teemu Pulkkinen was playing for Kunlun Red Star but announced his departure this week. He’d previously played for three other teams in Russia and Belarus.

Around Finland

Inside Politics

‘Useful idiot’: The top political story this week casts a former Green party leader in a bad light. Tanja Cronberg, also a former government minister and ex-MEP was involved in a trip to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, ostensibly to participate in a conference about the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (he was born in Kaliningrad when it was ruled by Germany and called Königsberg).

The conference was exposed in the media as a flimsy cover for a pro-Kremlin influence operation, Cronberg was swiftly denounced by a raft of senior Green party leaders in Finland, and the University of Eastern Finland withdrew an honourary doctorate they were going to present to her in June.

Cronberg says she was there to do research for a new book.

Insider analysis: This is Finland so of course plenty of people thought there was political capital to be made at Cronberg’s expense, and she can certainly be labelled a ‘useful idiot’ for agreeing to attend a propaganda event paid for by the Kremlin. She should know better. One Kokoomus politician said “A vote for the Greens is a vote for Putin” which is, however, patently absurd. Cronberg has not been actively involved in the party for a long time so why would her misdeeds now reflect badly on them?

However this case does raise one valid point: we, the media, and the political classes in Finland don’t always apply the same logic to those on the right of politics. If someone was a former Finns Party member and gets arrested on suspicion of a terrible crime, we use their association with the party to point fingers. Guilt by association. There’s a lesson to learn about being more careful in future on applying those double standards. 

Polling: A new survey from public broadcaster Yle this week shows the Social Democrats have consolidated their lead as the most popular party in Finland, up 2.7 percentage points in the last month to 24.4%. Kokoomus remain in second place up slightly to 21.3% while the Finns Party have fallen again down 1.8 percentage points at 15.6%.

Reaction: The Finns Party’s Jani Mäkelä says about the drop in support “there have been a lot of unpleasant and difficult things in the public lately.”

Speed demon: Kokoomus politician Otto Meri hit the headlines this week when it was revealed he was being prosecuted for aggravated speeding. Meri was caught doing 158kmph at Easter, on a road where the speed limit was just 80kmph. Meri wants to see the charge reduced to a normal speeding offence because he was on a straight stretch of road, overtaking a truck, and the weather and visibility were good. Meri, a Helsinki city councillor and a lawyer, is known for his harsh rhetoric on crime and punishment issues… (oh, the irony!)

Friendly fire: The youth wing of the National Coalition Party (Kokoomusnuoret) has hit out at the government’s spending cuts and lack of support for mental health.

“In the past, we called on the government to cut business subsidies and put billions to more efficient use. The government has decided to cut €150 million from social welfare organisations, while handing out inefficient business subsidies to support sustainable timber production and improve the competitiveness of maritime vessels, among other things.”

358: Finland in numbers

International

European Union: A new survey released for Europe Day finds that 65% of Finns view their EU membership positively. However, Finns want to see a more cohesive foreign policy from the 27-member bloc.

Thailand: A Finnish man was found dead at the entrance of a national park in Thailand in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Local media reports the 43-year-old was riding a motorbike and crashed into an electricity pole.

Russia: MP Pekka Toveri (Kokoomus) says that every Russian attack, such as hybrid warfare incidents, should be followed by a countermeasure. “The West should start playing this game by the same rules as Russia. Which means there are no traditional rules,” he told Iltalehti.

Ukraine: President Alexander Stubb has been visiting Germany this week, where he said China held the key to pushing Russia towards peace talks on Ukraine.

Russia, again: Speaking in German at a Wednesday press conference with President Steinmeier, Stubb also said that the situation on Finland’s eastern border was quiet at the moment, but reminded journalists that Russia was able to swiftly instrumentalise and move migrants towards the EU’s border.

Insider Analysis: Stubb took the chairman of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee to Germany with him, Kimmo Kiljunen (SDP). That’s unusual because for the past 12 years the previous president, Sauli Niinistö, was known to almost jealously guard his foreign affairs dealings, and liked to fly solo on the international stage. Interestingly, Stubb took the Speaker of Parliament Jussi Halla-aho (Finns) with him on a recent trip to Ukraine as well (helpful, because Halla-aho speaks fluent Ukrainian). Maybe Stubb is cultivating new allies, maybe he’s just being more open and collaborative, or perhaps it’s that old adage of “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”?

Israel/Gaza: Finland’s three Green MEPs have joined calls in Brussels for more sanctions against Israel for its “shocking violence against civilians” in Gaza. Meanwhile, MP Nasima Razmyar (SDP) says the attitude of Western countries towards Israel has to change. “The war has continued for more than half a year and Israel has not made the slightest change in its military operations, but still the Western countries give their approval to the war.”

Finland’s Windows95man performs at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, 7 May 2024 / Sarah Louise Bennett, EBU

And finally…

Finland’s quirky Eurovision entry Windows95man has made it through to the finals of the Song Contest, to be held on Saturday night in Malmö.

But one (more) note of controversy this year. Finland’s popular 2023 singer Käärijä made a return visit to the Eurovision stage on Thursday evening performing his catchy refrain ‘Cha cha cha’ but has demanded that Israel’s entrant Eden Golan remove a video of the pair dancing from her Instagram channel. Käärijä received a fierce backlash from critics about the video, which he says in a statement was posted without his permission. Hundreds of Finnish artists have called on the EBU to exclude Israel from this year’s contest, held in the southern Swedish city.

That’s it for our surprise first pre-launch Finland Insider drop. Don’t forget next Friday we’ll be adding some visual bells and whistles as well as original content you won’t find anywhere else in the official launch.

Thank you for subscribing!

David